Ihsan Nur Iman Faris, 2014 Cultural Content Analysis Of An English Textbook For Senior High School Grade Three In
Cianjur, West Java Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the general description of the research. It covers background of the research, research questions, aims of the research, significance
of the research, research methodology, and organization of paper.
1.1 Background of the Research
There are many propounded definitions about what culture is. One hundred and seventy five separate definitions were listed in a book entitled
Culture written by Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn in 1952 Vivelo, 1997. From numerous definitions of culture, Vivelo ibid divided culture into two
major views. The first is the totalist view in which culture is viewed as ways of life. The second is the mentalist view in which culture is viewed as ideational or
conceptual system formulated to be the codes of behavior or the standards of appropriateness. By combining both of the view, it can be concluded that the term
culture covers many aspects in society. In its relation to language, culture and language are inseparable and bound to each other Kramsch, 1998; Brown, 2000.
Kramsch 1998 stated that language is the expressions of cultural reality, the embodiments of cultural reality, and the symbols of cultural reality. The
inseparability of language and culture has led researchers to conduct investigations in the field of English language teaching taught in various cultural
contexts. One of the investigations concerning language and culture lies in how culture is represented in English textbooks.
According to McGrath 2002 textbooks carry cultural content. Textbooks play important role to provide valuable inputs in exposing students to new cultural
expressions and diversity of cultures Lund, 2006. Textbooks are ideology in the way they reflect a worldview of cultural system and a social construction to
learners and teachers which indirectly influence their view of culture Aliakbari, 2004. Since the spread of certain language through textbooks can influence
language learners‟ attitude, the decision on choosing English textbook should take the cultural contents in textbooks into consideration. Philipson 1992 warned that
Ihsan Nur Iman Faris, 2014 Cultural Content Analysis Of An English Textbook For Senior High School Grade Three In
Cianjur, West Java Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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| perpustakaan.upi.edu
English can erode the existence of local culture if the spread is not controlled and filtered. The statement might hold true as Littlejohn and Windeatt 1989 cf
McGrath, 2002 stated that hidden curriculum comprising certain values and ideology is hid in language learning materials.
In terms of English language teaching through textbooks, some scholars for example Hinkel 1999 and Dat 2008 suggested that the target culture should
take more proportion in order to bring the cultural context of the native speakers. On the contrary, the other scholars argued that the source culture should take more
proportion in English textbooks due to the status of English as an international language and familiarity theory in language teaching McKay, 2003; Brown,
2000; Cunningsworth, 1995. However, there are some scholar taking a more neutral position, for example Peterson and Coltrane 2003 and Kramsch 1991.
They stated that English language teaching should teach both the target and the source culture in a non-judgmental way where the differences between the target
and the source culture do not clash with each other. The balanced proportion of both the source culture and the international culture seem to be the win-win
solution in this intense discussion. In Indonesia, the general objective of national education is educating
Indonesian students to be religious, well-mannered, healthy, clever, creative, independent, responsible, nationalist, and democratic citizens Kemendikbud, n.d.
The objective is set according to the cultural value and ideology of the nation and applied in all school subjects including English. Considering textbooks play
important roles in English language teaching, English textbooks evaluation needs to be conducted. According to Fernandez et al 2011, the factors influencing the
selection process of textbook in Indonesia vary from financial issue, the relation to certain publishers, to the visual appearance of the textbooks. Then, the
tendency that the textbooks chosen are not appropriate in term of cultural contents exists since the reasons of choosing the textbook used may not consider the
contents of the textbook. Some investigations of cultural contents in English textbooks show various findings. Matsuda 2003 found the source culture
contents in English textbooks in Japan insufficient. On the other hand, Olajide
Ihsan Nur Iman Faris, 2014 Cultural Content Analysis Of An English Textbook For Senior High School Grade Three In
Cianjur, West Java Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia
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| perpustakaan.upi.edu
2010 found that the source culture contents in Nigerian context sufficient. Yet, the representation of the source culture does not inform textbooks users how the
cultural contents occurred in the real life situation. In Indonesia, Hermawan and Noerkhasanah 2012 also found more representation of the source culture than
the target culture in three English textbooks for primary schools. However, the representations were not enough in terms of promoting the source culture.
This research investigates what cultures are represented in the English textbook for a senior high school in Cianjur, West Java, and how the cultures in
the textbook are represented. This research is qualitative in nature. The four senses of culture framework propounded by Adaskou, Britten Fahsi 1990 is
used to analyze the English textbook entitled Look Ahead grade three published by Airlangga publisher.
1.2 Research Questions
